1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a liner for a cargo container, more particularly to a liner which can be mounted easily within the cargo container and which is shaped to fit completely a cargo space of the cargo container for carrying the most bulk cargo that the cargo container can do.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a cargo container is extensively used for the transportation of freight by land and sea. The cargo container is made up of several metal plates to form a hollow rectangular box so as to deposit and protect cargoes therewithin during transportation. However, although it is quite convenient for carrying cargoes, the cargo container still can not protect effectively bulk cargo, such as dry bulk chemicals, powdered and pelletized resins, flour, coffee and grains, from contamination and from undesirable exposure to the natural elements. For solving the above-described shortcomings, a liner was developed to be mounted within the cargo container for receiving such bulk cargo in order to protect effectively the latter.
A conventional liner (11), as shown in FIG. 1, includes an expansible liner body which is made from a plastic material such as polyethylene, which is shaped to form a rectangular body by means of sewing or weaving. This rectangular body has an accommodation space therewithin and is smaller in volume than that of a cargo container (12). Thus, the liner body can be mounted within a cargo space (121) of the cargo container (12). The conventional liner (11) has front and rear connecting pieces (111, 112) which are secured respectively to and which extend upwardly from front and rear edges of a top panel (116) of the liner body. Each of the front and rear connecting pieces (111, 112) has a row of positioning holes (113) formed therethrough. The liner body has two openings (115) formed through a rear panel (114) thereof.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the liner (11) further has a front support frame assembly (13) and a rear support frame (14) which are mounted respectively within the front and rear portions of the cargo space (121) of the cargo container (12) for positioning the liner (11) within the cargo space (121). The front support frame assembly (13) includes a lower frame (132) which is disposed on a floor portion of the cargo container (12) and which has a length equal to the width of the cargo space (121). A pair of support rods (131) are inserted respectively into two hollow end portions of the lower frame (132). Two springs (133) are mounted respectively within the hollow end portions of the lower frame (132) for pushing the support rods (131) upwardly to depress against a ceiling portion of the cargo container (12) and pushing the lower frame (132) downwardly to depress against the floor portion of the cargo container (12). In this way, the lower frame (132) and the support rods (131) are positioned within the cargo space (121). A U-shaped upper frame (134) has two ends mounted respectively to upper the portions of the support rods (131), and extends forwardly above the front connecting piece (111). A connecting cord (15) extends around the upper frame (134) and successively through the positioning holes (113) of the front connecting piece (111) of the liner (11) so as to connect the liner (11) to the front support frame assembly (13). The rear support frame (14) is positioned within the rear portion of the cargo space (121) of the cargo container (12) and is connected to the rear connecting piece (112) by means of a connecting cord (not shown) in the same manner as the front support frame assembly (13) so as to connect the liner (11) to the rear support frame (14). Accordingly, the front support frame assembly (13) and the rear support frame (14) can position the liner (11) within the cargo space (121).
The liner (11) carrying bulk cargo is emptied by raising the front end of the cargo container (12) to tilt the cargo container (12) so as to allow the bulk cargo to slide rearwardly toward the openings (115). However, when most of the bulk cargo is accumulated on a rear portion of the liner body of the liner (11) during discharging the bulk cargo from the liner body, the rear panel (114) of the liner body is often tore or ruptured due to overweight bulk cargo on the rear panel (114) under the above-described condition. For solving this problem, the liner body of the conventional liner (11) is further reinforced by employing a curved bracing plate (18) to the rear panel (114) of the liner body. The bracing plate (18) is connected detachably to the rear support frame (14) by means of a rope (17) to support the rear panel (114) of the liner body. Besides supporting the liner body, the curved bracing plate (18) with its curved surface can avoid parts of the bulk cargo retained in the dead corners adjacent to the bottom edge of the rear panel (114) when unloading the bulk cargo from the liner (11).
Although the conventional liner (11) has been designed to avoid the undesirable tearing or rupturing of the rear panel (114) when unloading the bulk cargo from liner body, the conventional liner (11) in practical use still has some drawbacks which are as follows:
1. The cargo container (12) if employing the conventional liner (11) requires a higher transportation cost. When mounted within the cargo container (12), the conventional liner (11) requires the front support frame assembly (13), the rear support frame (14) and the curved bracing plate (18) which occupy relatively portions of the cargo space (121) of the cargo container (12). Accordingly, the cargo space (121) provided for accommodating the liner body of the conventional liner (11) is decreased. This may result in increasing of the transportation cost. PA1 2. It is quite difficult to mount the conventional liner (11) within the cargo container (12). When it is desired to mount the conventional liner (11) within the cargo container (12), the front support frame assembly (13) and the rear support frame (14) have to be positioned within the cargo space (121). Then, the liner body of the conventional liner (11) is connected to the front support frame assembly (12) and the rear support frame (14) by means of the connecting cord (15). Finally, the curved bracing plate (18) is connected to the rear support frame (14) by means of the rope (17). According to the above-described steps, it not only requires relatively high cost to manufacturing the conventional liner (11), but also wastes much time to assemble the conventional liner (11) within the cargo container (12). PA1 3. Owing to the use of different materials in the different parts of the conventional liner (11), the conventional liner (11) can not be recycled when it is damaged. Therefore, the conventional liner (11) can not conform to the demands of the environmental protection.
For convenient discharging of bulk cargo, another conventional liner, which applies three disclosed U.S. Patents whose Patent Numbers are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,040,693, 4,799,609 and 4,884,722, has been presented and used extensively in the market. This conventional liner has an expansible liner body, and a bulkhead coupled with the liner body. The bulkhead includes a front wall member for holding a front panel of the liner body, a rear wall member for holding a rear panel of the liner body, and two triangular left and right corner members which are connected to the rear wall member adjacent to the lower left and right dead corners respectively. The left and right corner members slant outwardly downwardly away from the rear wall member for guiding parts of bulk cargo retaining in the dead corner to fall toward an outlet opening of the liner body. However, the bulkhead applied to this conventional liner still occupies some portions of the cargo space of the cargo container. Therefore, the cargo space can not be provided completely for carrying the bulk cargo. In addition, this conventional liner still meets with the problems of the manufacturing cost and the environmental protection as described in the conventional liner (11).